Pico Canyon Hike With My Friend Linda - 12/16/2010

This morning, my friend Linda and I went for a hike in Pico Canyon in the Santa Clarita Valley of Southern California. I've shared this canyon with you before. It has a lot of history and I see new things every time I hike there.
Linda is new to hiking and she is enjoying the places I am taking her to hike. She loves the outdoors and history, so Pico was a good place to take her as there is a lot of old oil history there.
The morning started out very cloudy and gray. We were afraid we might have some rain, but then the clouds parted and the sun broke through. We hiked approximately 3.5 miles round trip.

Hiking Collage

I "created" this hiking collage just before my 60th birthday.

Short Hike In Towsley Canyon With My Brother Keith

Don't care much for summer hiking as it is usually too hot and everything is dry and brown. Like hiking much more in the spring when creeks are flowing, wildflowers are blooming and everything is green.

This morning my brother Keith and I went for a 2 mile hike in in Towsley Canyon.

Keith

Me

Keith

Summer Hike In Placerita Canyon - July 22, 2010

I usually do not go hiking in the summer. First, it is normally way too hot here in SoCal for summer hiking. Then there is the chance of running into rattlesnakes along the trails in the canyons. But this morning we had a very heavy marine layer. It burned off around 7:00 am but it kept the temperatures in the low 70's so I decided to head over to Placerita Canyon Nature Area and go for a short hike. Actually ended up doing about 2.25 miles.
I can add another reason to my list as to why I don't usually hike in the summertime....everything is so dry and brown. The last time I hiked the Placerita Canyon Trail it was still spring. Everything was green, the creek was flowing and the wildflowers were blooming. Today everything was brown, the creek is almost completely dry and there are no flowers.

I did see a lot of lizards, birds and several squirrels. The birds were singing as I walked along the trail. I could also hear the drone of either bee swarms or fly swarms as I walked through the canyon. The flies were eating me alive. There's another reason to not hike in the summer!

I will say that some of the trees were still green, but the grass under them was brown.

I like to take photos of fresh cut tree logs. They always have such pretty colors and markings on them. Sometimes you can almost see "shapes" in them. Is it just me, or do you see the turkey in this one?

After my hike, I went over to the Nature Center to use the bathroom and stopped by to see their Red tailed Hawk (Kia) and their Great Horned Owl (Orion).

Turned out to be a really nice morning.

Hike At Corriganville Park - Simi Valley, CA - June 27, 2010

My brother Keith and I drove over to Simi Valley to hike at Corriganville Park. This is the site of the old Corriganville Movie Ranch.

http://www.b-westerns.com/corvlle.htm

http://www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=99

There are a few trails there. We first hiked the Interpretive Trail where they had signs telling about differnt movie filming site. Then we hiked the loop trail up into the rocks.

Here is another link that gives discriptions of some of the points of interest along the Interpritive Trail, plus tells about the other trails in the park.

http://www.rsrpd.org/park/corrignavilleparkandtrail/twocorriganvillebrochures.pdf

My Favorite Hiking Spots

Pico Canyon

Hiked Pico Canyon this morning. It was pretty windy. The sky was very blue. The creek is dry now, the wildflowers are just about all gone and the grasses are turning brown, so that's a sure sign that summer is near. The birds were chirping loudly. Saw a quail and was able to photograph it. There were a lot of butterflies fluttering around too.

Another Hike In Placerita Canyon

I hike Placerita Canyon a lot. Probably because it is the closest Natural Area to where I live. It is about 4 or 5 miles from our house. I really love to hike Towsley Canyon too. Actually, Towsley Canyon is a prettier area, but it is about 8 miles from us, so I go to Placerita more.

The weather was beautiful this morning. Perfect for a hike. There is still some water in the stream which surprises me because usually by this time of year, the streams here have all dried up. It's nice to still hear the babbling as I hike the trail.

The birds were out this morning and the were singing up a storm. Even heard a few quail off in the distance.

There are still a few wildflowers, but not like there was during the month of March when the hillsides and canyons were covered with so many colorful plants.

Morning Hike In Towsley Canyon

Headed over to Towsley Canyon again this morning for a hike. Towsley Canyon is a very popular area with the hikers of the Santa Clarita Valley. Today there were more people there than I've ever seen in all of my hikes there. The parking lots were full, but luckily I found a place to park in the "free" parking area. I saw a few birds out and about and could hear a lot of birds chirping and singing during the entire hike. I did about 3.5 miles today.

Most of the wildflowers have come and gone in this canyon, but now the purple thistle is blooming like crazy. They were everywhere!

The water in the creek was down some, even though we just had a little rain storm come through about 2 days ago.
Today I even saw a "guided nature tour" group. I have never seen that in Towsley Canyon before. Usually I only see "guided" tours over in Placerita Canyon. The hills are still very lush and green, but they will soon be turning brown as we head into summer.